


Practice

by theprettynerdie



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Angst, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2345039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprettynerdie/pseuds/theprettynerdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR SERIES FIVE. Jimmy, nervous about his meeting with the Lady Anstruther, has a proposition for Thomas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brokibrodinson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokibrodinson/gifts).



> So I don't know how I started getting invested in Thommy, though I suspect it is through osmosis as a result of discussing the show at length with [brokibrodinson](http://archiveofourown.org/users/brokibrodinson/pseuds/brokibrodinson). So this fic is for her!
> 
> This takes place during S5E1, sometime between the end of dinner and when Thomas snuck Jimmy up to Lady Anstruther's room.

“What if I’ve forgotten how to do it properly?”

Jimmy’s question was evidently meant to be taken as a joke, but underneath it all Thomas could sense his friend’s anxiety. Keeping his expression as neutral as he could given the circumstances, he turned around smoothly and replied, “I’m quite certain she will find you sufficient,” in a voice that he hoped had remained even.

Jimmy did not look convinced. “Well, it has been a while since I’ve last had – ah, practice.”

Thomas inclined his head ever so slightly, now fighting to keep himself from trembling. That had sounded like a suggestion – but no, surely that was impossible! After all, Thomas has misread Jimmy before; right now, he was probably just seeing what he wanted to see. He chose his next words carefully.

“I don’t know what you mean. Once you learn, you never forget.” He chuckled. “Unless you need to make sure.”

Jimmy looked at him sharply despite the jesting tone of Thomas’s statement. He stepped forward, nearly close enough to touch, and before Thomas could figure out what he was planning, Jimmy pressed his mouth to his lips.

Thomas gasped and backed away, but only a few inches. “What are you doing?” he whispered. “I thought – ”

“This changes nothing between us,” Jimmy said breathlessly. “But I need practice, you see, desperately so, and you are the only one I trust well enough to confide in.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have d­one that. It was selfish. I shouldn’t tell you no and then ask you to help me to – ”

But his words were cut off as Thomas leaned forward and kissed them away. “I would do anything for you,” he told Jimmy, reaching up to cup the side of his face in the palm of his hand gently. “I know that getting to kiss you like this, even just once, is more than I deserve. You have no reason to apologize.”

Jimmy smiled, almost sadly, before Thomas’s mouth met his once more. There was a desperate edge to the way Thomas kissed, with an intensity born of gratitude to a God or creator that he wasn’t even sure he believed in for allowing him this moment, at least, in his miserable life.

Jimmy chuckled and murmured against his lips, “I really did pick the right partner for this, didn’t I?”

“The key to kissing,” Thomas said, “is to _kiss,_ not _talk_.”

Jimmy laughed again as Thomas crushed their lips back together. Whereas Thomas’s kisses were hungry, devouring, and languid, Jimmy’s were quicker, though in rapid succession. He would allow Thomas to slide his tongue inside his mouth, then retreat momentarily before diving forward again and sliding his tongue into _his_ mouth in turn. The pace left Thomas constantly revising his motions until finally he had had enough.

His hands pushed at Jimmy’s shoulders, shoving him until his back was pressed flat against the wall. Then they were on either side of his face, keeping it in place as Thomas’s mouth enveloped his. Only when Jimmy was thoroughly breathless did he let up.

“And _that’s_ how you kiss,” Thomas said. “Now, we’d better see you upstairs if you’re to make any headway with Lady Anstruther tonight.”

Any more, he knew, and he would never be able to bear the walk to the Dowager’s room.

“Thomas,” Jimmy said, catching his arm as he turned. Thomas looked back at him, once again hoping that his expression would not betray his true feelings. “I – thank you. Let’s leave it there, shall we?”

“It was no trouble,” Thomas said, glad that Jimmy seemed to have accepted that what had just transpired between the two of them was to remain unspoken of in future. 

Years later, despite the heartbreak that came along with it, Thomas would always consider that encounter as one of his happiest memories of his service at Downton.

Unbeknownst to him, so would Jimmy.


End file.
